Question 1
Compare and contrast the three reform movements
in Late Qing China
in terms of objectives, leadership, programmes and results.
Although the Self-Strengthening Movement (1861-94), the Hundred
Days' Reform (1898) and the Late Qing Reform (1901-11) were all carried
out after the Qing government forces had been defeated in external wars,
they had different objectives, leadership, programmes and results from
one
another. These aspects of differences are going to be analyzed in the
following paragraphs.
After witnessing the powers of foreign firearms and munitions in the two
Anglo-Chinese Wars and the foreign assistance in suppressing the Taiping
Rebellion, the Qing court came to realize that the Qing Dynasty, or to
say the
whole Chinese culture, was far lagged behind the foreign cultures in terms
of
firearms and military techniques. Those who believe in reforms had been
in
one accord commenting that the fovernment should "learn the teachniques
of
the barbarians to control the barbarians". If the government did not immediately
start to imitate the foreigners in the military field, it would be highly
probable
that she would again be defeated in external wars. Therefore, the Self-
Strengthening Movement was born to improve the military might and innovate
the firearms and munitions of the Qing government. After the Sino-Japanese
War (1894-95) had shown that the Self-Strengthening Movement was a total
failure in raising the government's military power, some scholars came
to
realize that the Qing government needed more drastic and thorough reforms
in all aspects (political, economic, military, educational, etc) so that
the Qing
government can be strengthened again and able to stop the decline of the
dynasty. Soon the Hundred Days' Reform (1898) was put to an end in teh
coup
d'etat in the same. Two years later, in 1901, Empress Dowager Cixi issued
a
decreee calling for reform in the whole country, and this was the so-called
Late
Qing Reform (1901-11). The main objective of this reform was to pacify
the
discontents towards the Qing government and Cixi herself. Nevertheless,
we
should not neglect that the reform was also aimed at changing the prevailing
system in the governemnt and the whole country.
Concerning the leadership in the three reforms, the leaders in each
reform were actually more conservative or limited in personal sightings
than
their previous ones. In the Self-Strengthening Movement, it was Prince
Kung
who had direct dealings with foreigners in war and diplomacy and had the
idea of reforming the country. Prince Kung was a man with strong character
and not very willing to accept different kinds of opinions, but he was
quite
innovative in mind. His helpers included Tseng Kuo-fan, Li Hong-zhang,
Tso
Zong-tang and Chang Zhi-dong. All these were progressive leaders who had
their own ideals and philosophies in mind. The leaders of the Hundred Days'
Reform were Kang You-wei and his student Liang Chi-chao. They were quite
young (both were under 45 years of age) during the reform, and they were
inexperienced of working in the government, handling administrative affairs;
nor had they directly contacted with foreign cultures. All those ideas
they
proclaimed were what they heard of in local cities. Therefore, they were
quite
idealistic but unrealistic reform leaders. The leaders of the Late Qing
Reform
were Prince Ching and Yuan Shi-kai. They and their helpers were quite
anxious in protecting their own interests in teh government and were not
so
open-minded in reforms. Later, Prince Chun became more important in
reforms, but he was obviously conservative and protectionist, not willing
to
share power with the Han Chinese such as Yuan Shi-kai. What he did were
aimed to limit the power of the Chinese and increase the power of the
Manzhus.
The programmes of the Self-Strengthening Movement were various in
kinds, but only the military programmes such as building arsenals, fleets
and
naval academies were the major ones. The economic reforms like building
industries and telegraph lines were only subordinate in nature, providing
the
funds and intellectuals needed in military reforms. Political reforms were
even
absent in this period. Experiencing the limited nature of the reforms from
1861 to 1894, the reformers of the Hundred Days' Reform understood that
the
country needed more thorough reforms, especially in political and educational
fields. The most significant and special ones were the abolition of sinecures
and the establishment of the Imperial University and various schools, as
well
as the abolition of the Eight-legged essays. The Late Qing Reform was
actually similar in content with the Hundred Days' Reform. Different levels
of
local schools were set up and the civil Service Examination was abolished.
At last, the Self-Strengthening Movement ended in failure in 1894.
Being defeated in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), the Self-Strengthening
Movement, lasting for 30 years, was shown, though not made, to be a total
failure in raising the military power of the Qing armies and navies. The
fate of
the Qing China was still to be defeated in external wars. The Hundred Days'
Reform failed eventually partly due to the coup d'etat in 1898 and partly
the
decree issued by Empress Dowager Cixi to abolish almost all the reform
measures. The Hundred Days' reform failed to bring in a progressive reform
to the Qing court. Neither did the Qing Reform succeed in arresting the
decline
of the dynasty and pacifying the discontents against the Qing court. It
was
because the reform had not only failed to improve people's lives and give
them
representation in government, but also exposed the weaknesses and
conservatism of the Manzhu court.
It should be remarked that it is the Qing government's failure and
inability in providing a proper and thorough reform for the whole country
that
many social elements were induced to the revolutionary activities led by
leaders like Sun Yat-sen. Without the inability and incompetence of the
Qing
dynasty in reforms, the fate of the Qing dynasty can somehow be changed.